Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an operating structure of an exhaust heat recovery device with an embedded valve actuator, in which the valve actuator is inserted into the exhaust heat recovery device, and more particularly, to an operating structure of an exhaust heat recovery device with an embedded valve actuator, which has a rod which is moved through a displacement transmission medium, or moved independently, a link unit which converts sliding motion of the rod into rotational motion of a rotation shaft of a bypass valve, and an elastic restoring unit which applies elastic restoring force to the rod or the rotation shaft of the bypass valve, thereby reducing an overall size of the exhaust heat recovery device.
Description of Related Art
In general, in a vehicle, depending on a traveling state of the vehicle, warming up and heating steps for an engine are performed when the vehicle initially starts, a thermoelectric power generating step is performed when the vehicle travels, and a bypassing step is performed when the vehicle travels on a slope or travels at an excessive speed.
An exhaust heat recovery device for a vehicle refers to a device that recovers exhaust heat, which is discarded after combustion in an engine, and uses exhaust heat to warm up the engine and a transmission, or transfers recovered thermal energy to an air conditioning device so as to heat the interior of the vehicle.
In a case in which the exhaust heat recovery device for a vehicle is used, a coolant may be heated using high-temperature exhaust gas at the time of initially starting the engine, and as a result, effects of improving fuel efficiency and reducing exhaust gas may be obtained by shortening the time required to preheat the engine.
The largest amount of pollutants, which are discharged from the vehicle, is discharged in an engine idle state before the engine warms up, but by shortening warming-up time using the exhaust heat recovery device, an amount of pollutants, which are discharged from the vehicle, may be reduced.
Since the coolant heated by the exhaust heat recovery device quickly raises temperatures of an engine coolant and transmission oil, friction in the engine and the transmission may be reduced, and an effect of heating the interior of the vehicle in winter may be obtained.
As illustrated in FIG. 1, an exhaust heat recovery device in the related art generally has a structure in which a separate valve actuator 4 is provided outside a bypass passage 2, which is opened and closed through a bypass valve 1, and outside a heat exchanger 3 so as to rotate the bypass valve 1.
However, in the case of the exhaust heat recovery device with an externally-carried valve actuator in the related art, in which the valve actuator is disposed outside the heat exchanger, there are problems in that a structure thereof is complicated, and a space for placing other components is relatively decreased because the valve actuator is mounted outside the heat exchanger, and a space occupied by the exhaust heat recovery device is increased.
Even in the case of an exhaust heat recovery device with an embedded valve actuator in which a valve actuator is inserted into a heat exchanger in order to solve the aforementioned problems, a structure for rotating a bypass valve using the valve actuator is complicated, and as a result, there still remain problems in that production costs and weight are increased, and manufacturing processes are complicated.
The information disclosed in this Background of the Invention section is only for enhancement of understanding of the general background of the invention and should not be taken as an acknowledgement or any form of suggestion that this information forms the prior art already known to a person skilled in the art.